" False Advertising "

By Ethan Lewis

Good morning. There is no need to adjust your
television sets; I am NOT Courtney Lewis. You doubtless
braved the wind, the snow and the ice to come hear another
of Courtney's great sermons. She has given many good ones
over the years, and from “Why are teenagers so important” to
“Catholic School memories” to the ever popular stewardship
sermons, Courtney has never failed to entertain, uplift and
inspire.

Today's sermon, as advertised for weeks, is
about “The Spirituality of Illness”. To quote from the
Church newsletter: “The onset of illness is often viewed as
a crisis or battle the individual has with themselves, but
spiritual lessons can be gleaned from this negative
experience. Come listen to a new perspective of what this
all too common occurrence can give to you.” That sounds
great. Based on Courtney's track record, I'm sure that the
sermon will be a real humdinger.

You know, many people mistake “coincidence”
for “irony”. As a schoolteacher, I am often asked by
students of an example of irony. Here's a good one: Courtney
and I have been sick for a week now, and she is too ill to
give her sermon about illness. But fear not! Just as Bill
Clinton promised America that if he was elected the country
would get a “two for one” bonus with Hilary Clinton;
Courtney and I have a similar deal. When she lost her voice
on Friday night, I told her that I would prepare a
replacement sermon. Hopefully you will like it. Should I ask
George to vamp on the piano while you flee towards the
exits? Or should I continue?

Thanks for the vote of confidence! Actually,
it's been a long time since I stood at this podium, and I
welcome the chance to return. I have enjoyed my previous
opportunities to relate historical topics (such as Abraham Lincoln) and
contemporary issues (such as the
importance of voting) to the UU Principles. My first
thought for today was that I would deliver a sermon on
“false advertising”. After all, you came expecting one
thing, and you are getting something totally different; is
there a way to relate that to UUism? I think there is.

*****************************

As you know, Unitarian-Universalim is
“non-creedal”--that is why I am a UU. I have never been
comfortable with having to accept as true that which I
cannot prove. While faith is a wonderful thing, and I know
it gives strength to many, I have always been too skeptical
to be a “true believer”. I lived and worked for seven years
at Episcopalian schools, and the beautiful chapels, powerful
organs and short commute to church made Episcopalianism a
tempting religion. But to be an Episcopalian, I would have
to accept the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed, and I
can't accept that Jesus died and rose again.

I've worked for six years now at a Methodist
school. The Methodists have a nice church down the street
(though their organ is terrible), and their social creed is
generally appealing to me (they “dedicate ourselves to peace
throughout the world, to the rule of justice and law among
nations, and to individual freedom for all people of the
world”--which would be totally awesome and much more
believable if George Bush wasn't a Methodist.), but they
require you to believe that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of
Creation. It would be convenient to be Methodist, but I just
can't believe in the supernatural aspects of Jesus.

Like Jesus I am Jewish by birth. While that
was always more of a cultural than a spiritual thing in my
family (for instance, I was taught that Jews were funnier
than Gentiles, but eating ham was ok) I have been
lighting the Hannukahh candles this week, and consider
myself Jewish (“Jew-U's” is what Courtney and I identify
as). But it is hard to be Jewish without accepting that
God's promise of redemption stems from the covenant with his
Chosen People, and I am uncomfortable with the idea that the
Supreme Being favors one people over the others. In fact,
that concept of God's “in crowd” permeates most major
Western religions, except for UUism.

Why did I refer to “false advertising”
before? Well, quite simply, what if these core beliefs are wrong?
I mean, nothing can be bad about striving for a better
world, or living by the Golden Rule, but what if you live
your life based on an expectation that the afterlife will be
better, and then it isn't? Or there isn't one at all? What
if people are living their lives based on untrue promises
and expectations? While other, creedal faiths would
disapprove of their members questioning these tenets, as
UU's we are used to “thinking outside the box”.

Look (as Barack Obama would say): A good
salesman doesn't knock the other guy's product—he just sells
his own; and that's what I want to do here. The fact that
most other religions seem to be based on the idea that if
their members live a certain way, they will differentiate
themselves from the OTHERS, and they will receive salvation
while the OTHERS don't is not necessarily a bad thing.
Clearly it is enough to inspire passionate devotion all over
the world, and as Cole Porter once said “Fifty Million
Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong” (not to mention the three and a
half billion Christians, Muslims and Jews).

But we UU's take a different approach. The
first UU Congregation I belonged to began each meeting with
the following reading from James Vila Blake (# 473 in Singing
the Living Tradition):

“Love is the spirit of
this Church,

and service its law.

This is our great
covenant:

To dwell together in
peace,

To seek the truth in love,

And to help one another”

By drawing inspiration from Jewish and
Christian traditions that teach us to “love our neighbor as
ourselves”; Humanist teachings to “heed the guidance of
reason and ...warn against idolatries of the mind and
spirit”; Earth-centered traditions that teach us the vital
need to “live in harmony with the rhythms of nature” and the
words and deeds of prophetic men and women from all of human
history all over the world, we acknowledge that there are as
many ways to spiritual growth and experience as there are
people. By avoiding the idea that there is a “right” way to
salvation, UU's have the opportunity to discover EVERY way
to improve and eventually redeem the planet we live on. We
are able to continuously adapt and adjust our spiritual
focus based on newly acquired knowledge, ideas,
circumstances and points of view. And while a belief in
heaven is not inimical to being a UU, it is not required. As
a result, we can focus our energies on the here and now, not
just the hereafter. While it is certainly possible that many
of our own, individual beliefs are as unprovable and
(possibly) untrue as those of more mainstream religions, I
think that UUism's openness makes us more willing to accept
this possibility.

*******************************

But you know, another way that UUism appeals
to me is that it lets me maintain my own personal belief in
the Supreme Being. I have never found a religion that shares
a belief in MY God. For most of my life, I believed that MY
God was always watching me, was always disappointed in me,
and punished me for my transgressions (often through the
failure of my favorite sports teams). I had no formal
liturgical relationship to God, and I considered our
relationship to be a one-way deal: I acted and God
responded. This may sound odd to you (I know Courtney thinks
it is ridiculous) but so be it.

Well, as Courtney doubtless would have told
you (had she been able), about 10 years ago following the
somewhat sudden death of my father, Courtney became very
ill. The disease with which she was afflicted required her
to take massive doses of medication which gave her severe,
long lasting side effects (such as osteoporosis) and never
fully relieved her symptoms. After suffering for 18 months,
she had to undergo a life threatening surgery. While this
cured her disease, the recovery from the ordeal lasted for a
long time.

For three years while this was happening, I
went to Chapel every morning at the school where I worked,
and developed a custom. I spent 5-10 minutes before the
service staring at the Star of Bethlehem in the stained
glass window, speaking directly to God, repeatedly begging
him to “please help Courtney to recover; please help
Courtney feel better”. This was my first personal experience
with actual directed prayer. I resolved that I would never
ask God for anything about me (despite job troubles, money
troubles, and a pending move to Pennsylvania)--I figured
that God would respond better if I was focused on someone
other than myself.

Well, obviously Courtney has recovered fully.
Were my prayers answered? I think so. To this day,
whenever I come into a church (including this one), I only
have one prayer. Is this futile? Is it false advertising for
me to plepel on to you about Deity centric religions only to
conclude with my own idiosyncratic and absurd concept of the
Deity? Maybe. But Courtney's illness helped ME learn many
“spiritual lessons”. I learned that one can change one's
view of the Divine as necessary to meet one's needs. I
needed strength and support during a difficult time, and I
sought it in a Supreme Being, who could just as easily help
my wife as make the Eagles lose a playoff game. When
Courtney and I became UU's ten years ago we learned that
UU's accept that everyone's spiritual path is different, and
mutable. Over the decade my views on religion and God have
changed and become clearer.

And this is probably a good thing. As UU
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, in reading 563 of Singing the
Living Tradition:

“A person will worship
something—have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret
in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out.
That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts
will determine our lives, and character. Therefore, it
behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we
are worshipping we are becoming."

It took a serious illness in my family to
provide the catalyst for my spiritual reflections. Instead
of “worshipping” a vindictiveness and negative spirit, I
came to look at the world a new way, through the lens of
gentleness, kindness and forgiveness. So in some ways, what
I have told you is related to the sermon you were
expecting all along. And there is no “false advertising”!
Thanks for coming out today. I appreciate your patience with
me, and I join you in looking forward to eventually being
able to hear the sermon listed in today's program.

In closing, I'd like us to read number 657 in
Singing the Living Tradition, “It Matters What We
Believe” by Sophia Lyon Fahs:

Some beliefs are like
walled gardens.

They encourage
exclusiveness,

and the feeling of
being especially privileged.

Other beliefs are
expansive and

lead the way into
wider and deeper sympathies.

Some beliefs are like
shadows,

clouding children's
days with fears

of unknown
calamities.

Other beliefs are
like sunshine,

blessing children
with the

warmth of
happiness.

Some beliefs are
divisive, separating

the saved from the
unsaved, friends

from enemies.

Other beliefs are
bonds in a

world community,
where sincere

differences
beautify the pattern.

Some beliefs are like
blinders,

shutting off the
power to choose one's

own direction.

Other beliefs are
like gateways

opening wide
vistas for exploration.

Some beliefs weaken a
person's selfhood.

They blight the
growth of resourcefulness.

Other beliefs
nurture self-confidence

and enrich the
feeling of

personal worth.

Some beliefs are
rigid, like the body

of death, impotent in
a changing world.

Other beliefs are
pliable, like the

young sapling,
ever growing with

the upward thrust
of life.

Thank you. And to quote Theodore Parker in
reading 683 of Singing the Living Tradition :

Be ours a religion which,
like

sunshine, goes everywhere;

its temple, all space;

its shrine, all heart;

its creed, all truth;

its ritual, works of love;

its profession of faith,
divine living.

Please accept my best wishes for a happy
and healthy 2009 for you and your families.